2020-05-28: Fair is Fowl and Fowl is Fair: Difference between revisions
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*'''Log: | *'''Log: Fair is Fowl and Fowl is Fair''' | ||
*'''Cast:''' [[Character :: Josephine Lovelace]], [[Character :: Seraph Boudicca]], [[Character :: Zed]], [[Character :: Ida Everstead-Rey]] | *'''Cast:''' [[Character :: Josephine Lovelace]], [[Character :: Seraph Boudicca]], [[Character :: Zed]], [[Character :: Ida Everstead-Rey]] | ||
*'''Where:''' The Cape of Breath | *'''Where:''' The Cape of Breath | ||
*'''Date:''' May | *'''Date:''' May 28, 2020 | ||
*'''Summary''': ''It's a lovely day in a small village. Then, the goose arrived...'' | *'''Summary''': ''It's a lovely day in a small village. Then, the goose arrived...'' | ||
Latest revision as of 05:15, 31 May 2020
- Log: Fair is Fowl and Fowl is Fair
- Cast: Josephine Lovelace, Seraph Boudicca, Zed, Ida Everstead-Rey
- Where: The Cape of Breath
- Date: May 28, 2020
- Summary: It's a lovely day in a small village. Then, the goose arrived...
DG: A party led by Josephine Lovelace is now entering Untitled Goose Dig. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
============================<* Untitled Goose Dig *>============================ ===============<* CHALLENGE - Steal Precious Object - Underway *>=============== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- It's a lovely day in this small village. For once, it appears nothing at all can go wrong. This is the perfect day to take it easy -- to have a lazy day. Which is why it might come to some surprise that a horrible goose is attempting to steal something precious belonging to one of those among you. The goose is not easily dissuaded. If rebuffed, it tries again and again, approaching from different angles, all the while attempting to take what it so apparently desires. And should it get it -- then it will run off with it! Can you evade the goose, or will a chase become necessary? =Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Exhaust============================================
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
It's a beautiful spring day in a particular small village in a particular part of Meria.
Josie, arguably, hasn't been paying attention. Research on the latest tile had hit an obstacle, she'd said days before, so she was going to take a break. Said break had finally seen her to this little village out in the middle of nowhere, where she now sits at a small dilapidated table set under a tree heavy with nearly-ripe cherries.
Her gaze is focused somewhere off into the middle distance.
She is smoking like the proverbial chimney.
A single tile -- Prithvi, according to a console aboard the Karlsefni -- rests on the table. She's not looking at it.
This may quickly become a problem because--
there is a notable gap in space now where the tile had been.
Also notable, the white goose waddling quickly away with the tile.
Josie happens to glance over at the table. "What the--"
The goose is making tracks!
A single cigarette drops to the dirtpath below as she runs after the goose.
"Hey! Drop it!"
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Steal Precious Object - Underway. DG: A party led by Josephine Lovelace is now entering Untitled Goose Dig. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
============================<* Untitled Goose Dig *>============================ ===============<* CHALLENGE - Steal Precious Object - Underway *>=============== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- It's a lovely day in this small village. For once, it appears nothing at all can go wrong. This is the perfect day to take it easy -- to have a lazy day. Which is why it might come to some surprise that a horrible goose is attempting to steal something precious belonging to one of those among you. The goose is not easily dissuaded. If rebuffed, it tries again and again, approaching from different angles, all the while attempting to take what it so apparently desires. And should it get it -- then it will run off with it! Can you evade the goose, or will a chase become necessary? =Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Exhaust============================================
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
It's a beautiful spring day in a particular small village in a particular part of Meria.
Josie, arguably, hasn't been paying attention. Research on the latest tile had hit an obstacle, she'd said days before, so she was going to take a break. Said break had finally seen her to this little village out in the middle of nowhere, where she now sits at a small dilapidated table set under a tree heavy with nearly-ripe cherries.
Her gaze is focused somewhere off into the middle distance.
She is smoking like the proverbial chimney.
A single tile -- Prithvi, according to a console aboard the Karlsefni -- rests on the table. She's not looking at it.
This may quickly become a problem because--
there is a notable gap in space now where the tile had been.
Also notable, the white goose waddling quickly away with the tile.
Josie happens to glance over at the table. "What the--"
The goose is making tracks!
A single cigarette drops to the dirtpath below as she runs after the goose.
"Hey! Drop it!"
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Steal Precious Object - Underway.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Boudicca has posed.
Boudicca is doing what Boudiccas always end up doing when they end up in small villages.
Which is to say: she has found a local issue and is now Helping.
Currently, that issue is a little girl who wanted to fly a kite on a calm day. Mysteriously, a breeze managed to pick up at just the point when her mother told her there would be no kites today. Equally mysteriously, the breeze is particularly cooperative to kites.
(Neither of them can actually see the woman in full plate standing around nearby, so obviously it's just the weather playing nice.)
Except, suddenly--!!
A HORRIBLE GOOSE waddles past!
"Ah..?" Boudicca asks, as she watches the goose waddle and shortly realises there is a Josephine scrambling after it.
And all a sudden the breeze is moving in a particular direction, because Boudicca has also begun chasing the goose.
Consequently, there is also a small girl with a kite running after them.
This will go well.
DG: Seraph Boudicca has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Steal Precious Object - Underway.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
Zed, notorious(?) Metal Demon is familiar with bird-shaped threats of all kinds. He has, in fact, been researching what to do in case another case of Cucco Chaos were ever to befall another town. Never again, he resolved, would he allow anywhere those fiendishly adorable creatures to paint the town white.
Why white?
you figure it out, the answer is gross
Regardless, the reason Zed is out here in the middle of absolutely nowhere does not, in fact, have anything at all to do with birds. He's actually here because Zed is a friend to all small town villages full of small town village children who, 9 times out of 10, think he's the coolest thing.
And so, when a threatening goose reveals itself, can anyone truly be surprised that a certain METAL DEMON abruptly falls out of a cherry tree with a double armful (and double cheekful) of ripe fruits!? "Hrmph!?" Zed mumbles, because he's kind of got a mouthful of cherry. But it's fine! He can still help!!
His arms might be occupied, but his GRABBY SCARF is not!!
This is how a Zed joins the entourage, chasing after a devilish drake with his scarf flailing after it like a pair of prehensile limbs!!
DG: Zed has used his Tool Grapple Scarf toward his party's challenge, Steal Precious Object - Underway.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida Everstead-Rey is dear friends with Boudicca, not to mention--as some might argue--her chaperone. When the Wind Seraph takes an interest in something, she tends to gravitate to it immediately, spending time in its orbit before moving on somewhere else. Perhaps it's best that the wind have someone to direct it. Like right now!
Ida is seated on a bench in the town square, reading a book, when It starts happening. Some sort of waterfowl waddles past--this itself is not unusual. What is unusual is that Josephine Lovelace is chasing it, followed by a growing train of people. Ida sets her book down, and joins in. "Josephine," Ida says, as she catches up to the archaeologist. "What's going on? Did it steal your lunch?" Her tone is almost jovial. She knows not of what awaits.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Steal Precious Object - Underway.
============================<* Untitled Goose Dig *>============================ ===============<* CHALLENGE - Steal Precious Object - Underway *>=============== |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- It's a lovely day in this small village. For once, it appears nothing at all can go wrong. This is the perfect day to take it easy -- to have a lazy day. Which is why it might come to some surprise that a horrible goose is attempting to steal something precious belonging to one of those among you. The goose is not easily dissuaded. If rebuffed, it tries again and again, approaching from different angles, all the while attempting to take what it so apparently desires. And should it get it -- then it will run off with it! Can you evade the goose, or will a chase become necessary? =Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Exhaust============================================
=======================<* Untitled Goose Dig - Round 1 *>======================= =================< Results - Steal Precious Object - Underway >================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 0 --(8)--> 8 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Boudicca 0 --(8)--> 8 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zed 0 --(8)--> 8 Pass Grapple Scarf 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ida Everstead-Rey 0 --(8)--> 8 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Josephine Lovelace 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1)|Tire(2) Effects: Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Perhaps under other circumstances, Josie might have had a witty quip or somesuch for Ida as she scrambles after the goose. But right now--
"Not my lunch, my work!" she shouts, as sunlight fleetingly glints off the metallic tablet held tight in the goose's horrible maw. Try as she might, it seems to waddle just quickly enough that she can't quite gain on it...
But a series of events occur that see the day won, in a sense:
First, there comes the lashing tendril of a remarkably grabby scarf. But it doesn't quite reach until a sudden and mysteriously quite fortuitous gust sees it lapped right into range. It entangles about the tablet -- a battle for the ages ensues!
But the scarf prevails! The tablet is freed from the goose, which charges into a nearby shrubbery, hissing.
But physics ensues, and the tablet, thus yanked, is set into flight--
In a direction that sets it up perfectly for Ida to catch it, if she's able.
Josie, as is so rarely for her, left silent for a few moments after.
"Well," she surmises finally.
"That worked."
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Untitled Goose Dig *>============================ ===============<* CHALLENGE - Initiate Rap Battle - Completed *>================ |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- A certain scene unfolds before you. There is, inexplicably, a large robot of some sort here. The goose sits perched atop a shoulder. In its beak there dangles a set of keys. Below, two reptilian beastfolk stand there shouting at it. "There is a key! Ok, then we will fight the word with it!" "Ard, Ard, Ard, Ard." Shortly thereafter they notice your arrival and turn to look at you... and explain (????) the situation somewhat: the goose has the keys to Liz and Ard's machine, the Bulkogidon, and refuses to relinquish them. Therefore, they will now fight the goose by yelling verse and rhyme at it until it returns the keys. Apparently you are now a required participant (Ard's sense of rhythm is just not very good). =Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Reckless===========================================
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
"Hmrph, nnf anffthr dayff svved ffnks tvv vv--" Zed pauses as the mysterious tile sails through the air and... rapidly begins chewing. His cheeks deflate like he was some kind of living metal hamster. Finally, with one big gulp he swallows the lot! "Another day is saved, thanks to DARK HERO ZED!!" Beat. Zed turns to these other people he recognizes, then: "Oh. Oh! IT'S YOU ALL, FRIENDS! It is a good day to be chasing geese, is it n--"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARD--!"
"T-that sounded like a distress call! Come, friends! There's trouble afoot!"
Did you really think that the goose's reign of terror would end so easily?
No!
It has only just begun!
The cry leads the party to the most terrible of all sights to see in a small town village such as this. There's... some kind of giant, lizardman robot standing there, painted in colors that only its creator (and Zed) could love. "Ard!" And there-- "ARD ARD ARD!" On its shoulder...!
"AAAAAAAARD!"
Is a goose, with a PAIR OF KEYS in its beak. The creature goes -honk- and somehow pushes a button. What can only be a cockpit door swings open, and--
"
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
"Hmrph, nnf anffthr dayff svved ffnks tvv vv--" Zed pauses as the mysterious tile sails through the air and... rapidly begins chewing. His cheeks deflate like he was some kind of living metal hamster. Finally, with one big gulp he swallows the lot! "Another day is saved, thanks to DARK HERO ZED!!" Beat. Zed turns to these other people he recognizes, then: "Oh. Oh! IT'S YOU ALL, FRIENDS! It is a good day to be chasing geese, is it n--"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARD--!"
"T-that sounded like a distress call! Come, friends! There's trouble afoot!"
Did you really think that the goose's reign of terror would end so easily?
No!
It has only just begun!
The cry leads the party to the most terrible of all sights to see in a small town village such as this. There's... some kind of giant, lizardman robot standing there, painted in colors that only its creator (and Zed) could love. "Ard!" And there-- "ARD ARD ARD!" On its shoulder...!
"AAAAAAAARD!"
Is a goose, with a PAIR OF KEYS in its beak. The creature goes -honk- and somehow pushes a button. What can only be a cockpit door swings open, and--
"Hark, dear friends, what bird creatures have bothered you so much?" There, at the robot's feet, there are... Two lizardmen. "Ard!" The larger, browner, and apparently half-Pokemon one yelps, "Ard ard aaaaard!"
"Hm, of course," The other one is... Smaller, greener, and far more stylish. He's wearing a red cape! Of course Zed thinks he's cool!! "Don't worry, cheerful companions. I have already resolved our predicament. What everyone knows is that the only way to defeat a waterfowl is to ..." The lizardman pauses, turns, and finds... An audience! "Ah! Cheerful person. Have a nice day? This horrific creature stole my key and the precious burgundydon of my best friend Ard. We challenged it to a language duel until the crazy squarks lost grip. Would you like to take part?"
"Ard!" Ard replies, and decides that the best way he's going to help is by dropping the phat beats.
It's like dubstep, except instead of wub-wub-wub the beat is ard-ard-ard. You might call it Ard Rock.
"Let us begin!" The green one says, and begins to... rap. "Yoyo, my name is Liz. I'm scared from the far end of the spiral. If you think you have something for me, you are a negative beak. I will release your key because your number is stealing runes, otherwise death will immediately claim you-"
You... You may want to help before the Guardian of Language tears open a rift in space-time and swallows this whole place up to defend the sanctity of the spoken word.
For Zed's part, he seems to have been... struck speechless!? Perhaps the universe is simply not able to handle having Zed and Liz and Ard in such close proximity. If he were to take sudden action, then they might accidentally fuse into some kind of terrible extra boss!! Or maybe his hand is just close to his face because--
Yep, he's whistling.
Yep, that sure is a golden metal beast-dog that just burrowed out from underground. And... It appears to have brought a boom box.
Zed's contribution (for now) appears to be... A musical background track!?!?!
DG: Zed has used his Tool Goldie Whistle toward his party's challenge, Initiate Rap Battle - Completed.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Boudicca has posed.
Boudicca would certainly fight a horrible goose in a mech, except...
In the background, SMALL GIRL WITH KITE is still merrily flying her kite. It would be very good if she did not end up wandering into the path of a robot piloted by a goose.
AND SO: BOUDICCA'S MAGIC IS STILL OCCUPIED WITH THAT THING.
Luckily, Liz and Ard...
... propose...
... er...
Boudicca looks to Ida, face all ascrunch. "I do not quite..."
Her face dawns to realisation as the music starts up. "Oh!" She declares, hands clapping together. "A poetry recital!" That's not really - it's close enough! It's close enough.
"The itsy-bitsy goose waddled,"
"Up the cock-a-pit,"
"Brought down the hatch and made us worry for it,"
"But out came the goose,"
"When we asked polite-er-ly,"
"Because geese are not horrible,"
"They just want to be free!"
She looks so pleased with herself. Nobody tell her.
DG: Seraph Boudicca has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Initiate Rap Battle - Completed.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Once Ida hands it back over -- assuming she hands it back over -- Josie takes the moment to clean any remaining goose saliva off it before pocketing the thing.
A shout echoes from nearby! Josie looks askance. "Hmm. I don't think this is my business or none," she remarks, then glances back to see...
...everyone else heading on towards the sound of the disturbance. Shaking her head, the archaeologist starts after them.
PRESENTLY
"Well, now, isn't this a pickle," remarks Josie, gazing up at the machine. "I didn't expect nothing like..."
She trails off as her gaze narrows in on... the goose.
Jingle jangle jangle go the keys.
"Huh."
First an ancient relic, now the keys to a Gear? "One clever goose," she remarks.
Just before the rap battle commences! She grimaces blandly as Liz does his best attempt at a rap.
"So we're really doing this, huh? Can't say I see the logic, right, but it ain't my monkey or circus." She shakes her head, then pulls out a flask, uncorks it, and takes a swig.
She's not drunk enough for any of this yet.
Possibly, she's not drunk enough even now.
"Ahem," she begins--
Boudicca does her best attempt at a... well, let's just call it a poetry recital.
Josie... just shakes her head.
"Ahem," she starts again, a faint red blush coloring her cheeks as she utters:
"I've heard it said, birds are dumb. But that's the kinda person, you're best staying away from. Don't underestimate birds, you do that at your peril, uh,"
Josie pauses for a moment here. Her cheeks seem redder.
"...I wouldn't want to see one go feral?"
Silence.
"...That's it, I'm out. I'm done." She folds her arms over her chest and looks away.
Wait, did the normally shameless archaeologist just get embarrassed...?
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Liquid Courage toward her party's challenge, Initiate Rap Battle - Completed.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Zed's scarf whips out. The goose loses its prize in the ensuing scuffle. The tile goes flying! It catches the light at the apex of its arc, the telltale gleam of a Key Item. Ida's hand whips out, and snatches it out of the air. The naturalist stops in her tracks, opens her hand, and peers down at the tile. "I don't see how it could mistake this for food," Ida says. She passes the tile back to Josephine. "Do you know what it's made of? Where did you find it?"
Zed, ever the selfless hero, hears something in the distance--a shout of distress! Ida's further questions about the tile die in her throat as Zed dashes off.
-honk-
Ida stops at the foot of the stalled robot, staring. There's no denying that whatever is... unfolding here has the same general energy as Zed. Her gaze settles on the goose, and on the keys it's holding in its beak. Her lips twist. "Is that--is that necessary," she says. She reaches back around to the small of her back, and pats the just-in-case flare grenade. "I could always... try to startle it..." She glances at Zed, then Boudicca, then Josephine. Oh dear, she thinks. They're committed to this... improvisational poetry music? She's never heard of anything like it.
Ida starts drumming her fingers against the robot's foot. She's not bad at keeping time, just... don't ask her to put words together in rhyme. The longer she's listening to that 'Liz' fellow, the odder she feels. As though she were about to get sucked into a comedy sketch that got butchered in translation.
Silly thought, isn't it?
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Initiate Rap Battle - Completed.
============================<* Untitled Goose Dig *>============================ ===============<* CHALLENGE - Initiate Rap Battle - Completed *>================ |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- A certain scene unfolds before you. There is, inexplicably, a large robot of some sort here. The goose sits perched atop a shoulder. In its beak there dangles a set of keys. Below, two reptilian beastfolk stand there shouting at it. "There is a key! Ok, then we will fight the word with it!" "Ard, Ard, Ard, Ard." Shortly thereafter they notice your arrival and turn to look at you... and explain (????) the situation somewhat: the goose has the keys to Liz and Ard's machine, the Bulkogidon, and refuses to relinquish them. Therefore, they will now fight the goose by yelling verse and rhyme at it until it returns the keys. Apparently you are now a required participant (Ard's sense of rhythm is just not very good). =Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Reckless===========================================
=======================<* Untitled Goose Dig - Round 2 *>======================= =================< Results - Initiate Rap Battle - Completed >================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 8 --(4)--> 12 Pass Liquid Courage 3 Combat Effects: Rally -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Boudicca 8 --(4)--> 12 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zed 8 --(4)--> 12 Pass Goldie Whistle 2 Combat Effects: Embolden -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ida Everstead-Rey 8 --(4)--> 12 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Josephine Lovelace 20 --(20)--> 40 Pass Conditions: Reckless(2)|Tire(2) Effects: Embolden(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
Do geese fantasize about eclectic rhymes? There's certainly a lot of rhyming going on, and even more in the way of eclectic people. How else do you explain Zed, Liz and Ard? And...
And now...
Boudicca, Ida and Josephine.
A strange osmosis has occurred here. Whatever strange energy suffuses these three individuals-- let's call it the Gag Impulse-- is apparently contagious in high enough concentrations. The goose stares... uncomfortably at the four (six) extremely white (even the lizards) people trying desperately to spit fire lines, but the only thing they're setting fire to is their own credibility and sense of self-respect. But then, something strange happens.
Maybe it's because Boudicca is so precious. Maybe it's that Josephine's blush is so hot that her face has started acting as a heat ray. Maybe... Maybe Ida's phat percussion has activated some function of the super robot. Maybe it's that Zed has finally decided to join in with what appears to be a full on electric guitar? Zed that isn't even the right genre of music, what are you doing
(He can't help it. Hyadeans are naturally predisposed to heavy... metal.)
Or maybe it's that Ard has apparently pulled what can only be called a RAYGUN BAZOOKA from his belly pouch(!?! is he a kangaroo!?!) and pointed the business end at the goose at some point in the middle of this musical interlude.
But... One way or another, the goose suddenly makes a -honk- of surprise and... Catches fire? Its back end flares like a rocket engine and the thing goes sailing into the distance. The Bulkogidon's keys are flung into the air. Liz leaps for them. Ard leaps for them! The keys clatter and glitter as they fall... Into the cockpit!
Liz shoots his tongue out like a chameleon--
And the cockpit door closes on his tongue in the world's most unfortuante kind of automogear accident.
"Hngsagdaklg--" Liz squawks as the goose lands and begins scurrying into the distance. "Finfff! Ffanks ffuh hehffing me, Liz, hI wifv nuhffer ffuhghfft thff! Vuhn novh vhis thillathe thtill mneds yobgh! Gugh!"
How Liz can still talk so eloquently with his tongue trapped is a mystery. "Ard," Ard adds, throwing a thankful thumbs-up before going to try and pry his unfortunate friend free.
Zed snaps a crisp salute and follows after the others, "I don't know how... But I felt a weird sort of kinship with those guys...?"
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
"That was really good, you guys!" Zed says, cheerfully. "Especially you Boudi! We should... start a band...!"
DG: Seraph Boudicca has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Untitled Goose Dig *>============================ ================<* CHALLENGE - Steal Teleport Orb - Completed *>================ |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- There it is! The goose is right there! Now is the time to put an end to this-- wait, why does it have an orb in its beak? "Hey! That's mine!" A young witch-girl of some extraction appears on the scene, brandishing an umbrella at the goose. The goose is seemingly unmoved by Lilka's threat. And then the goose suddenly vanishes, appearing again several feet away. Then vanishes again. Then appears again!! ...How are you supposed to catch up to it if it can teleport?! =Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Slow===============================================
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Boudicca has posed.
"Er... good luck!" Boudicca bids Liz and Ard, as they embark on a new adventure.
Luckily, the world is saved from whatever a Zed-Boudicca band might look like, because the Rocket Goose - empowered by literally embodying the concept of setting one's derriere aflame - snatches up something else precious as it scampers.
ZOT, it appears a little to the left. It is no longer on fire. It is also damp.
(NOT SHOWN: "was that a goose," remarks the local fishermen, as a bird splashes into the water. There was not a bird anywhere nearby previously. There is no bird nearby a moment later.)
"Hey! That's mine!"
The goose tilts its horrible goose head to the left. HONK, says the horrible goose.
The goose disappears.
The goose reappears, right behind Lilka. HONK, it emphasises, when she turns in a hurry, cape all aflutter around her.
Her protests soon reach the ears of--!!
OUR HEROES: "Does this fiendish fowl never tire?!" Boudicca exclaims, as she sees the goose blink in and out of existence. "Let us hurry and remove that item from its possession posthaste!"
She leaps!
She...
Does not eat dirt, because she is a Wind Seraph and she is far too dignified to land facedown on the ground when the goose which was supposed to be there is suddenly not there. She does, however, end up floating there in a bit of an undignified pile of Boudicca for a moment before she manages to right herself again.
"Cease your crimes!" She yells, raising up an arm before the rest of her to point accusingly in the goose's vague direction.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
PREVIOUSLY
Josie smiles like the cat that got the cream. "Some Zeboim alloy or another," she says, casually enough. "I found it in some ruins at Aubefort. Part of my research, in progress. It's one of a set, seems like. As for what it's for..."
She shakes her head, that smile grown somewhat more sheepish. "Ain't got a clue."
Then, an interruption ensues...!
AND WE'RE BACK TO NOW
For all her rough-and-tumble ways, it seems that the archaeologist is just as talented in certain things as any other scholar. Somewhere, somehow, she can just about feel her ancestors (well, her mother's distant Aveh tribefolk ancestors, anyway) looking on in shame. Her gaze defiantly averted from proceedings, her face remains a darkened hue.
But then things... well, things certainly happen.
That's one way of putting it.
Josie, having finally faced reality again (such that it is...) watches Liz as he struggles with his trapped tongue.
"Put some ice on it," she suggests, before walking off.
She tugs the flask from her pocket again as she goes, apparently keen on another drink after that frankly demoralizing debacle. But before she can do more than take it in hand--
"What, it's back already?"
She takes a moment to look at the flask. She takes a moment to look at the goose. She takes a moment to look at the others.
"Fine," Josie relents, pocketing perfectly good rotgut and racing after the goose. A small sphere of light glimmers at her fingertips. "Let's see you outrun this! Light Flare!"
The small sphere of light chases the goose then detonates in a flash. But is it enough to stun a wayward waterfowl?
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Steal Teleport Orb - Completed.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
It's okay, Ard's expression seems to say. This happens a lot. Don't worry about them. They'll figure it out. They always do.
But before Zed can seize on the idea of creating the best band to ever plague the land (THE DARK SERAPHS), the goose... Acquires something else entirely.
--Somewhere else--
"Huh," Ashley Winchester thinks, having been invited to a 'resupply trip' in Sielje's shopping district by a certain witch. "I thought Lilka was supposed to be here by now. I wonder what's keeping her..."
--RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW--
"Is that goose... teleporting?" Zed says with a frown. Will his scarf be able to be of use here again? Or will he have to... Take extraordinary measures...?
"Ida," Zed says, his scarf beginning to twirl like some kind of propeller. He... lifts off the ground, and then goes horizontal. His scarf seems to elongate and starts emitting a yellow-green aura of Zedder Rays. "I need you... to push me."
This technique... This can only be...
CHOKYUU
HA'OH
ZED
EI
DAAAAAAN!
Once he's struck, Zed, swathed in bonfire of strange light, shoots off like a living bullet... Right for the teleporting goose!! But how is a bullet, even one as large as Zed, goign to hit a teleporting goose...!?
SIMPLE.
"PLUS!" Zed yells as he... flickers. Suddenly there are two Zed-bullets. Then four. Then eight. Sixteen! Thirty-two!! "ZEDDER SHADOW TECHNIQUE!!"
To have mastered the legendary SELF SHOTGUN TECHNIQUE!! Truly, he is the greatest of ninjas...!
DG: Zed has used his Tool Grapple Scarf toward his party's challenge, Steal Teleport Orb - Completed.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida feels as though she's dodged a bullet. She offers the two lizardfolk an apologetic look as they set about the business of getting Liz free, turns her back, and puts distance between them.
"Zeboim?" Ida says, hoping against hope that the goose will relent long enough for her to have a normal conversation with a fellow academic. "That's--"
'Hey! That's mine!'
The goose knows neither mercy nor decency. Ida trails off, her mouth falling open ever-so-slightly. She watches the goose wink in and out of existence. This is ridiculous, she thinks. It's a goose, what could it possibly want with--
'Ida. I need you... to push me.'
Ida looks into the middle distance. In the remake, she's very clearly staring into the camera. She shakes her head, puts on her best stiff upper lip, and strides up behind Zed. Ida steels herself, braces, and sends him on his way with the mightiest shove she can muster--accompanied by a ferocious blast of wind.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Zephyr Boots toward her party's challenge, Steal Teleport Orb - Completed. DG: Seraph Boudicca has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Steal Teleport Orb - Completed.
============================<* Untitled Goose Dig *>============================ ================<* CHALLENGE - Steal Teleport Orb - Completed *>================ |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 3 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- There it is! The goose is right there! Now is the time to put an end to this-- wait, why does it have an orb in its beak? "Hey! That's mine!" A young witch-girl of some extraction appears on the scene, brandishing an umbrella at the goose. The goose is seemingly unmoved by Lilka's threat. And then the goose suddenly vanishes, appearing again several feet away. Then vanishes again. Then appears again!! ...How are you supposed to catch up to it if it can teleport?! =Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Slow===============================================
=======================<* Untitled Goose Dig - Round 3 *>======================= ==================< Results - Steal Teleport Orb - Completed >================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 12 --(12)--> 24 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Boudicca 12 --(12)--> 24 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zed 12 --(12)--> 24 Pass Grapple Scarf 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ida Everstead-Rey 12 --(12)--> 24 Pass Zephyr Boots 2 Agility Effects: Quicken -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Josephine Lovelace 40 --(20)--> 60 Pass Conditions: Reckless(1)|Slow(2)|Tire(2) Effects: Quicken(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Boudicca has posed.
Light glitters! HONK, protests a horrible goose, as it disappears before the flare can even reach it.
Zot. It's in front of a tree.
Zot. It's on top of the tree.
Zot. It's behind Josephine, with a terrible, scurrilous HONK.
Zot --
Empowered by a PUSH OF THE WIND, the ZEDDER SHADOW TECHNIQUE finally barrels forward, and the horrible goose looks from the second bullet to the fifth to the sixteenth to the twenty-forth. In alarm, it asks: HONK?
HE SOARS PAST--!!
And when he lands he finds he has retrieved: one orb. "Oh, thank you!" Lilka smiles, as she hurries up to retrieve it. "I was worried I'd be late..!"
She hurries off to wherever she was supposed to be, as Boudicca finds her way back to the brave heroes (and academics). "Fine work!" She smiles, to Ida and Zed. "Your teamwork is impeccable!"
DG: Josephine Lovelace has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Untitled Goose Dig *>============================ ============<* CHALLENGE - Arrange Dolls In Pentagram - Completed *>============ |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- "Hey, you seen my dolls?" It's a weird question to get from just about anyone, let alone a roaming Baskar of some extraction. Apparently Gallows lost track of some important ritualistic dolls... Which you haven't seen either, frankly. Until about five minutes after this conversation, when you happen across the set of them, carefully arranged in a pentagram. Something about this situation gives you a bad feeling. Like, maybe, you might end up cursed somehow if you're not careful... =Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Madness============================================
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
JUST MOMENTS AGO
Josie grins over at Ida, lips parting to bare ever more teeth.
Then, there's a shout.
NOW
The sphere uncoils in a cold flare of light--
The goose vanishes, only to appear behind Josie and lets loose a honk that sees the wayward archaeologist jerk forward with a start at the sound. By the time she turns about, the goose is no longer there, having appeared several yards away, the orb still in its possession. "Fengalon's t--"
There is a swooping form, a shadow that falls upon the land.
The goose is suddenly left bereft of its prize. It vanishes quickly into the foliage, leaving only the Drifters, Lilka, and the retrieved orb.
"...Don't know about you lot, but I could use a drink," Josie remarks, apparently deliberately ignoring the fact that she still has a half-flask of liquor on her hip.
So it's off to the local tavern! Or would be, if they didn't first encounter a Baskar fellow:
"Hey, you ain't seen any dolls around here?"
As he -- Gallows Carradine -- explains, he'd had on his person just moments ago a set of ritualistic dolls, and now they seem to have vanished into thin air.
"Keep an eye out for 'em, will ya? They're gonna be a pain if they're lost for good."
After he continues on his search, Josie remarks, "Wonder if it's our goose again."
And then it's off to the tavern--
Or it would be, if they didn't find a set of ritualistic dolls arranged in a crude pentagram crudely drawn in the middle of the town road. Passersby are giving the arrangement a healthy distance. No one wants to get close.
The whole situation menaces of a potential curse.
Josie regards the set-up.
"Guess now we know, yeah?" she remarks, fishing a cigarette out and lighting it with a snap of her fingers. "...Guess you lot're gonna want to fix this. Well, then, let's get to it."
Crouching down just outside the circle, she regards it and its contents as she smokes.
And then almost casually ashes the cigarette over the drawn outer lines of the circle.
"Checking for secondaries," she remarks off-handedly.
Well, she is the daughter of a magus, when all is said and done...
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Pack of Cigarettes toward her party's challenge, Arrange Dolls In Pentagram - Completed.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
Truly, Zed is the shining star that lights up Ida's dreary days. Don't deny it, Ida. You 100% enjoy being party to Zed's absurd escapades.
"Nahahaha!" Zed laughs as his myriad clones converge, bursting out of the fused energy field with a DYNAMIC POSE! SEI-BAI!"
Something explodes in the distance.
It might, in fact, be Bulkogidon.
"Mission successful," he says, handing the sphere back to unfortunate the magician girl.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
Truly, Zed is the shining star that lights up Ida's dreary days. Don't deny it, Ida. You 100% enjoy being party to Zed's absurd escapades.
"Nahahaha!" Zed laughs as his myriad clones converge, bursting out of the fused energy field with a DYNAMIC POSE! SEI-BAI!"
Something explodes in the distance.
It might, in fact, be Bulkogidon.
"Mission successful," he says, handing the sphere back to unfortunate the magician girl. "No need to thank us! It's all in a day's work!"
--==SIELJE - A FEW HOURS FROM NOW==
Lilka cheerfully points a Teleport Gun Prototype at Ashley Winchester. There's a flash of red. Ashley Winchester has... disappeared. Oh no!! How awful, who could have predicted that Lilka's Teleporter Luck would rear its ugly head RIGHT THEN AND THERE...!?
Perhaps... Only the Goose knows...
--==HERE - NOW==--
"Huh, cursed dolls?" Zed says, wandering fearlessly at the pentagram. "Easy enough! Here I go!"
Zed...
Starts scuffing his toe into the ritual array. Without fear. Because honestly, he's dealt with curses before. What's throwing another one on the pile really going to do to him?
DG: Zed has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Arrange Dolls In Pentagram - Completed.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
'Your teamwork is impeccable!'
"Thank you," Ida says, to her dear friend and confidante. She gives Lilka a curious look, as though she's seen her somewhere, but doesn't remember the exact circumstances behind it. It only lasts for a second.
'...Don't know about you lot, but I could use a drink.'
"That sounds like a lovely idea," Ida says, flashing Josie a frayed, weary smile. That would be lovely.
Which means, of course, that the feathered interloper is not going to let it happen.
"Your dolls," Ida says, to the other Drifter. A sense of cold, foreboding dread clutches at her heart. She nods as Gallows explains his predicament, but that feeling only gets worse. "If I find them, sir, I'll let you know."
AND THEN
"I--" Ida says, as she stands at the edge of the circle. Her expression is equal parts "completely baffled" and "deeply unsettled". "Did--did that goose do all this?" She stares at the pentagram, her whole face tightening. "It makes no sense. And yet, I have never seen a being so dedicated to the cause of mayhem, yet so petty." She does not touch the circle until both Zed and Josephine have gone first. The more pragmatic side of her insists that this is the right thing to do. Nevertheless, she made a promise to Gallows, and once she's steeled herself, she reaches down, and plucks the nearest doll off the ground. She uses a pair of tweezers, and is careful not to let as much as a single hair touch the circle itself.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool ARMS Meister's Field Kit toward her party's challenge, Arrange Dolls In Pentagram - Completed.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Boudicca has posed.
"I am certain this goose did not mean to involve itself in dark magic," Boudicca says, with all the wavering uncertainty of someone who is DOING A LIE. "This must just be... um..."
what do geese even do
"A... performance piece..?"
nailed it
"In any case..." Evil dolls are not, exactly, something Boudicca is too fond of handling, but maybe if she pulls a blanket out of her Bag Full Of Things Humans Need To Live and loops it around the doll she can pull it out of formation without having to touch it. Brilliant!
DG: Seraph Boudicca has used her Tool Emergency Supplies toward her party's challenge, Arrange Dolls In Pentagram - Completed.
============================<* Untitled Goose Dig *>============================ ============<* CHALLENGE - Arrange Dolls In Pentagram - Completed *>============ |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- "Hey, you seen my dolls?" It's a weird question to get from just about anyone, let alone a roaming Baskar of some extraction. Apparently Gallows lost track of some important ritualistic dolls... Which you haven't seen either, frankly. Until about five minutes after this conversation, when you happen across the set of them, carefully arranged in a pentagram. Something about this situation gives you a bad feeling. Like, maybe, you might end up cursed somehow if you're not careful... =Dungeon Conditions: Tire, Madness============================================
=======================<* Untitled Goose Dig - Round 4 *>======================= ==============< Results - Arrange Dolls In Pentagram - Completed >============== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 24 --(8)--> 32 Pass Pack of Cigarettes 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Boudicca 24 --(8)--> 32 Pass Emergency Supplies 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zed 24 --(8)--> 32 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ida Everstead-Rey 24 --(8)--> 32 Pass ARMS Meister's Field Kit 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Josephine Lovelace 60 --(20)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Madness|Slow(1)|Tire(2) Effects: Cleanse|Enlighten(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"No secondaries. Well, that's good. Now, guess we just gotta..."
Josie turns her head slowly. "Wouldn't do that," Josie drawls, as Zed draws the toe of his boot across the line.
There is, fleetingly, the sense of something horrible and shrieking emerging from the pentagram. It wails as it ascends towards the warrior, the very epitome of a Terrible Fate. Wrapping its tendrils about Zed it...
...well, it sort of stops, pats at him curiously, as if it can't believe what it's encountered.
And then the curse reluctantly unlatches itself from him and floats away on the breeze.
"..."
Maybe... there's such a thing as an acquired immunity to curses?
Plucking the rest of the dolls from the circle is, afterwards, a fairly easy task.
"Whoa, you really found them all," Gallows says, not long after. "Tell you what, how about we go get a round?"
Josie plants a hand on her hip. "Sounds like my kinda plan."
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Untitled Goose Dig *>============================ ========================<* CHALLENGE - We Need A Plan *>======================== |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Enough is enough. This has gone on far too long already, and it's gotten far, far too silly. Really, a goose? Surely you can think of some plan to handle this situation and end this series of goose-derived chaos in this otherwise peaceful and placid village. You just need to hash it out amongst yourselves. How are you going to stop this nonsense? =Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
ABOUT TEN MINUTES LATER
The town's bartender looks up as the saloon doors swing open, and a small procession of Drifters walks in. "Howdy, folks. Can I get you anything?" she asks. She picks up a wet rag and wipes down the bar.
Ida walks forwards and seats herself, eyeing the rows of bottles. "Two Dragons," Ida says, gesturing at a gin bottle with a very distinct logo--the twin dragons of Guild Galad. "And keep it coming, please." The bartender's eyrbrows edge towards her hairline. "It's been a very difficult day. There's..." Ida waves a hand, trailing off. There is no way what she's about to say will not sound ridiculous. "A goose. We are attempting to resolve the matter."
"That little asshole?" The bartender looks at a section of shelves that are conspicuously bare. The floor is still wet.
Elsewhere, the goose pops the cork off a bottle of top-shelf scotch.
"Tell you what--get rid of it, and drinks are on the house." Ida manages a weary little smile.
"Well, then," she says. "I realize this may be an exercise in futility, but..." Ida picks up her freshly-poured shotglass, and downs the contents. "Let's ruin that little feathered bastard's day, shall we?"
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool ARMS Meister's Field Kit toward her party's challenge, We Need A Plan.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Boudicca has posed.
Mysteriously, the peanut dish loses a few peanuts. Maybe one of these patrons is just really good at grabbing snacks without being seen???
(Just kidding. It's a Seraph. A Seraph did this terrible thing.)
"Really," Boudicca exclaims, as she sinks into a barstool. "It is just a goose! An animal! It does not have a sense of malice or mischief! So why, then, is it displaying - both these things?"
She tosses up a peanut and chomps it. Chomp, chomp. What a strange novelty.
Shortly afterwards, her lips crinkle together and she reaches around to fish through her bag again, before she pulls out a BAG OF TRAIL MIX and pours some into the peanut bowl.
"... this is an improvement," she swears. Her trail mix is much tastier, at least by the standards of a being who does not need to eat.
"Hm," she says, finally, looking up at the place where the scotch was. "This goose seems uniquely qualified to find precisely what we do not want it to find. And so, were we to make an attempt on it, the logical solution is to present it with something it could not help but steal, yes..?"
Leaning back, she wonders: "But, what could be so meaningful and also deleterious to its continued mischief..?"
"Well, I suppose we could trick it into stealing me..."
DG: Seraph Boudicca has used her Tool Emergency Supplies toward her party's challenge, We Need A Plan.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
"Eh?" Zed's face is a full-on :D?, complete with question mark appearing out of his cheek. He remains utterly and totally clueless as the SPECTER OF DOOM rises from the pentagram. Does he not feel it coming? Can't he sense the dread creeping up his spine like the river of spiders that flows through your basement when the lights are off?
No.
He doesn't notice until that terrible shade wraps itself around him and... Gives him a pat? "Oh, uh," Zed appears confused. He doesn't know what's going on, but what he DOES know is that something is looking for a hug. So! He wraps his arms around these probing tendrils and gives them a quick squeeze. "Have a good one!" Zed says as the curse-shadow slips away and drifts off on the breeze. "What a nice ghost."
Maybe... Maybe Zed is just too used to being cursed??
(Nevermind that he totally has CURSE: NUL on his character sheet)
But! Onwards! There are drinks to be had! And plans to plot. "I vote," Zed says around a mug of what appears to be machine oil. Does he just carry that stuff around? "That we get it really, REALLY drunk first. Then what we can do, is we can lay a trap. Maybe like, a box filled with really fluffy pillows or something."
DG: Zed has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, We Need A Plan.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Alcohol, one of Josie's favorite vices.
"Really," she remarks, her gaze flitting up and over to the shelf. The bare shelf. "Been around long?"
Apparently, long enough to matter.
"Hit me with some of the 'ol 58," she says to the bartender, before turning towards the others. She draws from a pocket a single cigarette, which she summarily lights.
"...You know what, I ain't the forgiving kind. I've had it with that goose. So if you're gonna sweeten the pot with a little bonus..." She grins back at the bartender. "Then I'm in."
So, how does one hunt a goose?
"Yeah. We're gonna need a trap, and we're gonna need bait," she says, watching the smoke swirl up towards the ceiling. "But before any of that," she says, her smile flattening some when Zed suggests a padded trap of some sort, "we've gotta figure out where it's holing up. I saw it in the shrubs, but I wonder if there's a lake or suchlike about?"
DG: Josephine Lovelace has used her Tool Pack of Cigarettes toward her party's challenge, We Need A Plan.
============================<* Untitled Goose Dig *>============================ ========================<* CHALLENGE - We Need A Plan *>======================== |Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------< Challenge Information: >--------------------------- Enough is enough. This has gone on far too long already, and it's gotten far, far too silly. Really, a goose? Surely you can think of some plan to handle this situation and end this series of goose-derived chaos in this otherwise peaceful and placid village. You just need to hash it out amongst yourselves. How are you going to stop this nonsense? =Dungeon Conditions: Save Point===============================================
=======================<* Untitled Goose Dig - Round 5 *>======================= ==========================< Results - We Need A Plan >========================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Josephine Lovelace 32 --(5)--> 37 Fail Pack of Cigarettes 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Boudicca 32 --(4)--> 36 Pass Emergency Supplies 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zed 32 --(4)--> 36 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ida Everstead-Rey 32 --(4)--> 36 Pass ARMS Meister's Field Kit 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten -----------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------ Leader: Josephine Lovelace 80 --(0)--> 80 Pass Conditions: Save Point(1) Effects: Cleanse|Enlighten(1) ===============================< Dream Chasers >================================
DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace has passed this challenge! The party gained 0 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
Meaningful but also deleterious to its continued mischief........?
Zed
Has an idea
"We'll use my sword," he says, with surprising insight, "It's the ultimate plan. We'll let it steal Doom Bringer... and then capture it...!"
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"Perhaps it is already drunk," Ida says, to Zed. The bartender nods.
"Little bastard made off with three Crown Reserve bottles--that stuff ain't cheap, you know."
Slowly but surely, a plan comes together, aided by alcohol, trail mix, and whatever-it-is Zed is willingly imbibing. Halfway through, Ida pulls a paper and grease pencil out of her kit, and starts sketching out some manner of "goose trap". As Zed mentions his dire, dire plan, she starts to cackle.
"Yes," she says. "We find its hiding place. Then, we give it its choice of machine to befoul or object to steal. Either way it chooses, it chooses wrong."
Sometimes, alcohol just takes Ida's filter right off. Boudicca would know.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"Heh heh. I like it," Josie remarks, cigarette dangling from her fingers.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Boudicca has posed.
"How good can geese be at evaluating two separate options?"
Beat.
Boudicca looks at the empty shelf.
"... while intoxicated?" She adds, after a moment.
DG: Zed has drawn a new Challenge.
===========================<* Untitled Goose Dig *>=========================== ==============<* CHALLENGE - Chaos Breeds Desire Breeds Chaos *>============== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- There it is! The goose! Now is the time to put your plan into action! But a strange feeling descends across the village. A sense of desire, of /want/. Of Chaos. "Your desire has been granted," speaks Luceid, manifesting physically here before you. But it is not to you that they speak. But rather, to the goose. The Guardian of Desire is upon you, and the goose begins to flee from the vicinity. The trial set before you now is twofold: * You must avoid being caught by the Guardian (you cannot hope to stand against it in combat now) and evade its attacks! * You must also put your plan into action and get the goose out of the village, before it escapes to cause further terror! =Dungeon Conditions: Cripple, Suffer==========================================
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
The plan is set into motion. It doesn't take long to locate the goose. All they need to do is follow the honks, the yells and the chaos. There it is, honking away in that clearing. All they need to do now is to spring the plan into action--
And then... a strange feeling bubbles up within. The essence of desire, the raw material urge of want. It comes unbidden, unlike its source. "Your desire has been granted," the voice reverberates through the air like a distant, longing howl. It appears in a plume of gathering dark, a wolf with violet fur and a pair of razor-sharp tusks, a creature that few on Filgaia have ever seen, but which every Filgaian knows on the deepest, most primitive level of memory.
Luceid, Guardian of Desire, has manifested in physical form.
"-Honk!-" The goose honks as it makes a retreat, leaving everyone else to deal with... ...
Uh.
Zed, what are you doing.
"Lucy!" The Metal Demon cheers, pulling what appears to be a DOG TREAT from the folds of his scarf. "It's been so long! Where's Boomerang? Are you still travelling with him? Did the goose steal him from you or something--"
Luceid takes the doggie treat.
And also chomps onto Zed's arm, because this is still FUCKIN LUCEID.
"Augh! Bad! BAD DOG!" Zed screams, because this is LUCEID THE GUARDIAN OF DESIRE and Zed is just some kind of scrub first generation Metal Demon. "LUCY NO, LET GO!" They have a plan to execute! A PLAN! TO EXECUTE! "AUUUGH!"
Zed's scarf... grabs Doom Bringer.
...And hurls it, like a boomerang, at the goose.
"-Honk!-" The goose... Grabs the sword out of the air!!
And... trips over a pebble as it lands? "H...honk?" The goose is confused... And gets up, only for a blackboard eraser to fall right onto its head with a puff of chalk dust.
T-there's nowhere something like that could have even come from.
What... what's going on here? Whatever it is, this is an opportunity you can't let go to waste. Go, friends! Zed will be fine!
"BOOMERANG PLEASE, RESTRAIN YOUR DOG--"
REALLY.
DG: Zed has used his Tool Grapple Scarf toward his party's challenge, Chaos Breeds Desire Breeds Chaos.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
Things, as they so often do, go a little bit pearshaped from the moment they find the goose. One moment, they're all raring to go--
And in the next, a particular and dimly familiar pressure descends into the area. Josie, as the Guardian reveals itself, soon remembers where she has felt it before.
"It's Luceid," she says, rather flatly.
Somehow, there are no swearwords that come easily at this moment, only a plain, even statement of the facts.
Which may be why she slowly tilts her head to one side as Zed marches on up to meet it and--
and...
"Could've been better, maybe," she suggests to Ida and Boudicca, smiling in a fashion that cannot be termed entirely grim nor cheery.
But then, the bait is cast--
In the form of Doombringer, now in the possession of the goose.
Josie does what she does best and improvises.
"Tell you what! Let's alter the plans some, aye?!"
And she dashes for the goose, apparently opting to throw all clever sleight-of-hand to the wind for the option of just picking it up bodily with her one good arm and running like hell.
DG: Josephine Lovelace has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Chaos Breeds Desire Breeds Chaos.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Boudicca has posed.
"Oh, no," groans Boudicca, who - even with her centuries of experience generating ways it could get worse - could not have foreseen how this situation would get so much worse.
It's dismay which soon cuts to alarm: "Zed!" But his scarf at least seems dedicated to the plan, even if Zed himself is... occupied.
"Ah - yes!" Josie pulls her out of her Urge To Rescue Zed Immediately, which is for the best, really. Since she's barrelling forward, Boudicca reaches for a pouch and grabs a handful of dry leaves, cracking them in a hand to release wind magic. The breeze picks up at Josephine's heels, to give her all the speed of the gale.
BUT REALLY SHOULDN'T THEY BE DOING SOMETHING ABOUT LUCEID
DG: Seraph Boudicca has used her Tool Breezeruffle Leaves toward her party's challenge, Chaos Breeds Desire Breeds Chaos.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
The enemy is in sight.
Ida creeps forwards, her improvised 'goose trap' tucked under an arm--a wire cage covered with simple mechanisms--basic pulleys, cables, and even a few interlocked gears. It's not entirely clear what it does, but that's the entire point. It looks like it's important, and it's complicated enough to attract the goose's attention. Ida deposits the goose trap on the grass, and ducks behind a tree to wait. It's all she can do not to giggle, drunkenly, in anticipation.
Then a horrible feeling races down her spine. Ida recognizes it. Terror creeps in, through the gin haze. "What," she says, fear in her voice. A moment later, the source of that feeling materializes. Ida stares, equal parts baffled and horrified.
Zed tries to take one for the team. For a few moments, Ida seriously considers braving the fangs of a Guardian Lord in order to free him--but then common sense takes over. "BAD DOG!" she shouts, even as she dashes forwards, following Josie. The wind picks up behind her, speeding her steps.
DG: Ida Everstead-Rey has used her Tool Zephyr Boots toward her party's challenge, Chaos Breeds Desire Breeds Chaos.
===========================<* Untitled Goose Dig *>=========================== ==============<* CHALLENGE - Chaos Breeds Desire Breeds Chaos *>============== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- There it is! The goose! Now is the time to put your plan into action! But a strange feeling descends across the village. A sense of desire, of /want/. Of Chaos. "Your desire has been granted," speaks Luceid, manifesting physically here before you. But it is not to you that they speak. But rather, to the goose. The Guardian of Desire is upon you, and the goose begins to flee from the vicinity. The trial set before you now is twofold: * You must avoid being caught by the Guardian (you cannot hope to stand against it in combat now) and evade its attacks! * You must also put your plan into action and get the goose out of the village, before it escapes to cause further terror! =Dungeon Conditions: Cripple, Suffer==========================================
======================<* Untitled Goose Dig - Round 6 *>====================== ================< Results - Chaos Breeds Desire Breeds Chaos >================ Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Josephine Lovelace 37 --(18)--> 55 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Seraph Boudicca 36 --(18)--> 54 Pass Breezeruffle Leaves 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Zed 36 --(18)--> 54 Pass Grapple Scarf 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ida Everstead-Rey 36 --(18)--> 54 Pass Zephyr Boots 2 Agility Effects: Quicken ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Josephine Lovelace 80 --(35)--> 115 Pass Conditions: Cripple|Suffer(1) Effects: Quicken(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Josephine Lovelace has successfully explored Untitled Goose Dig!
===========================<* Untitled Goose Dig *>=========================== =====================<* CHALLENGE - Peace In Our Time *>====================== |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- You manage to achieve the nigh-improbable: you have evaded the Desire Guardian Luceid (who has retreated from whence they came), and you have chased the horrible goose from the village, perhaps not to return again. Or at least, not soon. After an age of terror, the village is now at peace. =Dungeon Conditions: Wonder===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.
The thing about bad luck is that, when it's not properly contained, it can get pretty contagious. As fast as Boudicca's magic is able to speed Josephine along, the fact is that coming into such close proximity to Doom Bringer is... Ill-advised at best? It's a tangible feeling, crossing within a foot or so of the weapon. It feels as though... doom approaches. Maybe that's why Zed named it Doom Bringer? In any case, Josephine is just about to catch the thing, when suddenly...
There's a banana peel under her foot!?!?
She slips! And falls... Into the goose.
But Boudicca's wind is still blowing! Except it somehow blows too strong and sends the goose flying...!
...It sails right over Ida, whose steps are powered by wind as well. That burst of air sends it flying even further just as a cluster of meteors begin tumbling through the sky. They fall down, down, down......!
The goose sails... over Zed...
...And right into that cage-like contraption Ida had slapped together. "HONK!?!?" The goose honks, dropping Doom Bringer out through the cage bars. Abruptly, the shooting stars all burn up almost simultaneously. Luceid makes a curious Wolf Noise and glances up at the chaos... Before spitting Zed's arm (and Zed, still attached) out like they were an uninteresting tug-of-war rope and someone much more worthy had begun rattling the milkbone box a few doors down. "My job here is done," Luceid says as it vanishes, leaving Zed... face-down in a shrubbery.
But...
The important thing is that the goose has been caught.
But what are you to do with it now...!?
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Boudicca has posed.
A SHORT TIME LATER, AND A LONG WAY AWAY
The wind whistles over the mountain clearing. The air tastes crisp, in the manner of cool altitude. The nearest human settlement is far, far away from here.
A Wind Seraph sits, cross-legged, and a bit of magic undoes the Goose Dismissal Device.
"It is time... to slow down and consider our part in the universe," says Boudicca, child of God and emissary of Guardians.
A SHORT TIME LATER, BUT A LITTLE MORE THAN THAT
"IDA THIS GOOSE IS UNWILLING TO CONSIDER ITS PART IN THE UNIVERSE."
~fin~